First it took up too much room, and then it didn’t do the writing justice when I edited… so, I am offering this E-Gram as a sort of Prologue to the June Newsletter which should arrive in your homes or email soon.

My June Newsletter article was about the reasons that people join our church. We’ve had a number of new people in the past few weeks and it got me to thinking about just why people come and stay and join.

Probably the top three reasons are… the ministers (like it or not, people do indeed pay close attention to us and cite us for better or worse). People want a “friendly” church, and that can be defined as stand-at-arms-length friendly to in-your-face friendly. Most prefer we’ll-give-you-room-to-breathe friendly. But the category which is consistently brought up in our discussions, but which I edited out of my newsletter article due to space, is … music.

People like that we have a choir that processes in, that we wear robes and that we do various musical responses during the service. Music is not “filler,” and most get that. Music moves us from one part of the service to the other. The opening hymn is upbeat, the hymn before the prayer is more meditative, and we conclude with music that sends us out into the day. People like the focus on the choir anthem before the sermon, and they like the bells. (I also like that those two groups encompass the east and west sides of the sanctuary, very symbolic.)

People have commented on the use of flute and brass, and the variety of soloists and duets. They like the including of children with the Praise Power kids and the children’s bells. People constantly ask if the organ pipes are really musical pipes or just decoration. Maundy Thursday and Christmas Eve and Easter morning would not even be close to worship services without the choirs and bells. If people don’t first come to our church because of the music, they definitely stay because of the music.

These past years have seen the including of the Trocair Quartet and the Gladden Stummers to worship and community events. Both are quite popular, and will be on display in our August Irish Festival worship service.

Like the big, bright clear windows of our sanctuary, the music of our worship is just a part of the very being of our services. When the music is sung or played, it taps into our earliest memories of worship and the deepest wells of our spirits. And of course, our thanks to Nancy and Mary Lynn for their leadership.